Ukraine not to be «passive» on Donbas deoccupation issue – foreign minister.

2020-05-21 21:50
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The Ukrainian delegation to the TCG in Minsk has been "substantially strengthened".

Photo from UNIAN

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has spoken ahead of the Berlin talks on Donbas settlement, scheduled for June 2, while the Ukrainian delegation, in an updated composition, is set to take part in another meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk.

"Ukraine won't be passive in the Minsk process. We will put forward initiatives, take steps that will help move things off the ground and walk the path of a peaceful settlement and de-occupation of Donbas," said Ukrainian Kuleba, according to Obozrevatel.

"We have long agreed with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas that I will make this visit. I really hope that I won't be traveling by myself but with Head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak. The main topic we'll be discussing is a peaceful settlement in Donbas and countering Russian aggression," the minister said.

He added that the composition of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG had been "substantially strengthened".

"We expect a similar step from the Russian delegation," Kuleba said.

The question of Crimea will also be raised in Berlin, the top diplomat noted.

"First of all, in the context of the Kremlin's political prisoners, Ukrainians who are being illegally held in the occupied Crimea. Most of them are Crimean Tatars," said the foreign minister.

Earlier, chief of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, noted that to the next meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group, Ukraine will invite as "representatives of Donbas" a group of internally displaced persons from Luhansk and Donetsk now living in territories controlled by Ukraine government.